CANADA: Consumers' Association calls for mandatory labels on GM foods

The majority of Canadians believe their government has not provided adequate information about genetically modified foods, according to a recent poll.

The poll, carried out in October by Decima Research on behalf of the Consumers' Association of Canada, found that 80% of Canadians believed the government had failed to provide adequate information.

Furthermore, 91% of the 2000 people surveyed, said they wanted to see labels on foods that contain GM ingredients.

"Full disclosure of food ingredients is what consumers want so that they can make informed decisions," said Peggy Kirkeby, vice president of issues and policy at the Consumers' Association. "Today, mandatory labels on food products tell consumers how much salt, fat, cholesterol and carbohydrates are in a particular product. Yet, when it comes to genetically modified ingredients, the Federal Government has said no, they aren't going to give this information to Canadian consumers."

"The poll found that 88% of consumers want the Federal Government to make labelling of genetically modified foods mandatory," Kirkeby said.

"On behalf of Canadian consumers the Consumers' Association will be formally asking the new government to introduce legislation to mandate labelling of genetically modified foods," she added.

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